Berlin to rename section of street after Yad Vashem, in show of commitment to Holocaust remembrance

Berlin will rename a section of a street near Germany’s parliament after Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum, in a move intended to show the country’s commitment to Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism.

The Berlin Senate has approved renaming a stretch of Dorotheenstrasse in the Mitte district as Yad-Vashem-Strasse, Yad Vashem says in a statement.

The street borders Wilhelmstrasse, once the center of power in Nazi Germany where plans for the persecution and mass murder of Jews were developed and coordinated, Yad Vashem notes. The area once housed Adolf Hitler’s Reich Chancellery and the Reich Security Main Office.

The official renaming ceremony is scheduled for January 20, 2027, marking the 85th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference. On January 20, 1942, senior Nazi officials met at a villa on Berlin’s Wannsee Lake to coordinate what became known as the “Final Solution,” the systematic murder of Europe’s Jews.

“The symbolism of the date is enormous. There could hardly have been a better one for the day of the renaming,” says Kai Diekmann, chair of the Friends of Yad Vashem. “With this, Berlin is sending a strong signal against antisemitism and for preserving the memory of the crimes against humanity committed in the name of Germany.”

The announcement comes several days after Yad Vashem said it selected Munich as the site for its first Holocaust education center outside Israel, with plans to strengthen Holocaust education and combat rising antisemitism and historical distortion in Europe.